


On the Road!

by Patcho418



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Fic Collection, Fluff, Short Stories, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-06 23:22:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18398435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Patcho418/pseuds/Patcho418
Summary: A collection of ficlets based on prompts I got before I went on a long road trip.





	1. Ursa Major

“Ruby,” Weiss murmurs, “I thought you said I’d like this place.”

Neon light dances in their eyes, flashing across their faces as they approach the doors of Patch’s arcade. The pinging noise of retro games rattles against her ears while the pungent aroma of stale popcorn and strong mustard assaulting her nose. Of course, Ruby had told her to get ready for a fun night out on the town, and she felt like a complete imbecile for believing she could have meant anything else.

Ruby beams beside her, vibrating with exciting. “Are you kidding? This place is the best!”

“Your definition of the word ‘best’ is clearly flawed,” Weiss snarks. 

‘You’ll love it, I promise! It’ll be fun!” When Weiss withholds the trademark smirk she reserves for Ruby’s antics, she pouts in futility. 

It takes a solid moment of this for Weiss to finally scoff, roll her eyes, and reluctantly stomp towards the doors of the arcade. “Fine,” she relinquishes as she opens the door for Ruby and immediately regretting it at the wash of smell that soon overtakes her. “But next time, we’re going to Whisper.”

Ruby chirps giddily behind her and escorts her in, and the arcade is exactly how she’d imagined it. Boxy old machines line the walls, flashing screens illuminating the thrilled faces of the several young patrons slamming buttons and lurching joysticks. A tacky carpet—remnant from an age where even then it was considered distasteful—covers the ground, littered with crushed popcorn that Weiss was sure for a moment had just been a strange part of the design.

Her partner is quick to grab her tokens while Weiss studies the room, desperate to find even something remotely familiar.

_Shadow of the Arma Gigas?_

Never heard of it.

_Grimm Fate?_

Nor that one.

_Atlasian?_

They couldn’t even get the word right on that one!

She inhales sharply, immediately regretting it as her nose fills with popcorn smell and leaves behind a thick, persistent sensation. She wrinkles her nose and turns to Ruby, surely ready to plead for her to reconsider, when she notices the way her eyes fall onto the prize area, wide and in disbelief at a large, white bear.

“Ruby?”

“That bear,” she begins, her voice hinting at nostalgia, “has been here for years. I remember me and Yang trying to win it before going to Beacon.” She takes a cautious step towards it as if in the presence of royalty, her breaths careful to not disturb the space around them.

Weiss’ heart lifts; Ruby isn’t often wistful, and seeing her so reverent of something so modest reminds her just how much Ruby hadn’t changed. How much she’d given up to get to where she is now, how much she’d had to put aside and sacrifice to become the incredible leader, huntress, partner, and girlfriend now standing in front of this dumb bear.

Ruby had changed, but her heart still clings to things she loves, and as her eyes remain fixed forward, Weiss assures herself that a little sacrifice sure does go a long way.

“What does it take to win that stupid bear?” she asks, her soft tone betraying her sharp words.

Ruby snaps from her trance. “Oh, uh, well you have to beat _Ursa Major_.” She pauses, her grin growing sheepish. “It’s a really hard game. Yang thinks it might even be glitchy or something, cause the last level is impossible!”

Weiss glances around the room again; she’s sure she’d seen it earlier among the other consoles. A quick scan directs her attention to several teenagers gathered around a large brown box, one of them gritting her teeth in concentration as the others cheer around her.

A yellow light flashes in their faces as the tinny sound of a bear roaring resonates from the speakers, and immediately the entire group groans in frustration, the one previously playing throwing herself from the joystick with red creeping on her face.

Weiss’ eyes narrow: an opening. She deftly grabs Ruby by the wrist, prompting a slight yelp of surprise before she guides her towards the now-vacant console. The two stand in front of the game, and Weiss finally gets a good look at what she’s getting herself into.

The vintage screen displays a large wall with what seems like Atlesian knights in position along it; just beyond it, a pixelated Ursa Major reaches towards an orange sky, roaring in a looping animation. Weiss has half a mind to scoff at the inaccuracy of any Ursa existing in Atlesian territory, but she stops herself just short of it. She has a mission.

“How do we play?” she inquires, pre-emptively grabbing one of the two joysticks in front of her and placing several fingers on the buttons.

Ruby giggles. “Well, first we put the tokens in—”

“You dolt, I know we have to do that!”

“Right!” Ruby’s cheeks flush rose as she takes the other joystick in her hand. “Well, it’s a strategy game. You place Atlesian units along a wall to try and stop different kinds of Grimm. If you can’t defeat all the Grimm in the set amount of time then an Ursa Major comes and destroys everything, so next level you have to start all your troops up again.”

“Atlesian units would fair much better against an Ursa Major,” Weiss grumbles, eyeing the large black Grimm as it loops in its animation, as if taunting her and her units. She purses her lips and reaches to place coins in the machine slots while Ruby bounces beside her. “We should be fine.”

“That’s the spirit!” Ruby says with the same naivete that always endears her to Weiss.

Weiss aligns herself with the controls as the screen fades to the first level, accompanied by a cheesy menacing tune. One the left of the screen is the big white wall, and in the centre is a countdown to the start of the level. She clutches the joystick while the pads of her fingers rest gently against several buttons.

She is absolutely going to win this.

*

“Wow, I didn’t think anyone could be so bad at _Ursa Major_ ,” Ruby chirps, her fingers laced between Weiss’ as they leave the arcade, the disturbing neon lights shut off for the night.

Weiss rolls her eyes; despite spending numerous hours trying to adjust to this game, they had hardly managed to make it past the first few levels, and of course knowing how many more there were to go they’d decided it would be best to give the arcade a break for the night.

Her grip on Ruby’s hand tightens lightly, and Ruby notices immediately as she turns to meet Weiss’ blue eyes. “Well then we’ll just have to keep practicing, won’t we?”

Ruby offers her an earnest smile and steps closer to her, their shoulders brushing against each others’. “So same time tomorrow night?

Weiss nods, leaning into her partner’s side. “I’m sure we can make that happen.”

She’s going to win her that stupid bear if it takes her years to do it.


	2. Crossed by Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blake enjoys when Yang reads with her; what she doesn't enjoy is when Yang just can't sit still.

“Whatcha reading?”

Blake peers up from her book, the cover of which clearly reads _Crossed by Stars_. This is, of course, a tendency of Yang’s; she takes interest in one of Blake’s books, has Blake explain the premise to her, and then settles down beside her to follow along.

Normally, these stories are an escape for Blake—and _only_ Blake—but she’s begun to notice recently how she doesn’t particularly mind the excitable blonde joining her in these narratives. She’s sure they’re not Yang’s favourite type of story, they surely can’t be exciting enough for her, but she’s always so eager to read whatever it is Blake’s into.

And how can Blake say ‘no’ to such a charming smile?

She lowers her book slightly, placing her finger between pages as to not lose her spot. “ _Crossed by Stars_. It’s about a girl who falls in love with the night sky, and one night the stars manifest as a beautiful woman, but they can only see each other at night.” With a slight frown tugging at her lips, she adds: “It’s not always possible for them to meet.”

Yang purses her lips, and Blake has to stop herself from snickering at that delightfully curious look on her face. “Sounds kinda edgy,” she posits before shrugging and swinging herself over the side of her bunk, landing softly beside Blake’s bed. “Luckily, I’m still a sucker for romance!”

This time, Blake lets the chuckle past her lips, and she scoots further against the wall, allowing enough room for Yang to join her. The blonde excitedly crawls onto the bed and nuzzles into Blake’s side, their legs intertwining while her head finds its place against her dark hair. Yang looks up at her briefly, a cheerful smirk persisting on her lips. Blake places her lips softly against her forehead, taking a moment to enjoy the tropical smell of her hair before her attention returns to her book.

“Want me to fill you in?” she asks, settling back into her comfortable reading position.

“Nah,” Yang replies against her shoulder. “I’ll just make it up. I’m guessing…Raja is the non-star girl?”

“Good guess,” Blake says with a smirk that prompts Yang to snuggle her tighter. 

Blake’s eyes fall to the letters on her current page, searching for where she stopped reading. She eventually settles on a phrase about a room washed in starlight despite drawn curtains, and her mind fills with the dark of midnight, deep purples and blues splashing across the unending sky and flecked with spots of glowing wonder.

As she reads, the vivid image of a woman bathed in a starry blue robe with freckles of light stretched across her soft cheeks comes to her mind, reaching out with a passionate grin playing on her lips. Her own breath shakes as she continues down the page, taken by the beauty of the poetic prose like something that could never be spoken, only seen.

She thumbs the corner of the page, glancing to Yang to see if she’s ready for the next page, and notices the glazed look of her eyes. She circles her thumb around the page, hoping that she doesn’t accidentally fold it, but Yang’s eyes remain fixed. 

Blake pouts; normally, Yang is attentive when they’re reading, always excited to get to the next part of the story. Right now, she seems distant, distracted, and it takes Blake a few slight nudges to bring her back out of her trance. She blinks a few times, inhales, and looks up at Blake.

“Are you finished?” she asks. “Should I turn the page?”

Yang pauses, her expression turning sheepish, and Blake wonders what could be painting that soft blush on her cheeks. 

“Sorry, I got distracted,” she offers in a low voice. “Like, by your hands, too. Weird, right?”

“Yeah, weird,” Blake murmurs, and suddenly her own hands become a lot more of a focus than the book they’re holding. She bites down on her lower lip, fingers curling against the paper as she tries to shift her attention back on the object currently held between them.

Yang shifts onto her shoulder, resting her head against her black locks. “Turn the page, I’ll figure it out.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m good!” 

Blake turns the page skeptically, her eyes training on Yang as she does, before she continues to read the words on the page. She’s enjoying this story, and hopes Yang is too despite the apparent ‘distraction’. 

Once again, her mind presents the stage for the story for Blake to get lost in, with the secrecy and intimacy of drawn curtains she finds all too familiar, the starstruck protagonist’s own words a whisper playing on her own lips. She feels her heart tighten, beating against her chest as she sees starlight in her mind, just for her and the woman she’s reading with—

She feels a light press against her nose, and suddenly the serene setting is replaced by her mundane dorm room, plain walls and strewn laundry. Her lips pull into a frown as she looks to her right just as Yang’s finger once again makes contact with the tip of her nose, causing her ears to twitch and nose to wrinkle.

“Yang,” she begins, her exasperation becoming increasingly transparent, “is this book boring you?”

“What? No!” Yang recoils from her defensively, lifting herself onto her palms to look down at Blake. “I’m just having a hard time getting into it is all!”

Blake pouts; she definitely has a hard time believing it. She studies Yang for a moment, her eyes wide and body seemingly unable to keep still, and she suspects Yang may be a bit over-excited for reading.

“You know, you don’t have to read with me if you’re not able to focus today,” she offers, to which Yang chuckles gaudily. 

“Don’t be silly, Blake! I love reading with you! It’s something you enjoy, and that’s what makes me enjoy it!”

“Even when you can hardly lie still?”

Yang scoffs. “Oh, I can lie still! I’ll lie so still you’ll think I’m dead!” She returns to her previous position, though her body is notably stiff and her face full of determination as she turns back to the page.

“Well, we don’t want that,” Blake teases.

She turns her eyes to the book, but this time her mind doesn’t wander. Instead, she focuses on Yang. The way her warm skin tickles hers as she vibrates restlessly against her. The way her eyes dart from word to word thoughtlessly, occasionally skipping between the two pages, pausing, and then shifts to Blake (when she notices Blake studying her, she simply grins guiltily and turns back to the page). She notices how Yang’s toes curl against her own, wrestling with far too much intent against a reluctant opponent, and she notices how her fingers lazily drum along the mattress in far-too practiced rhythms. 

There is no way Yang can focus on the story.

Blake closes the book, careful to keep her finger between the pages as a bookmark, and sits up. “Yang.”

Apparently just the mere mention of her name is enough to get a confession from her girlfriend, whose expression turns shameful as she sits up and meets her eyes. “Well, it’s not my fault I can’t focus. I really want to.”

Blake can’t help but reach for Yang’s hand, which the blonde immediately takes into her own and begins stroking her knuckles with her thumb. Her heart sinks, feeling the apology in each small circle, and Blake knows she has nothing to apologize for. 

“I like reading with you, and I wanna do it when you’re doing it even if I can’t focus,” she continues. “I’m sorry, I just wish I could sit still.”

Blake takes her lip between her teeth pensively, eyeing her book as specks of ideas form in her head until each dot is connected. She gives Yang’s hand a gentle tug, pulling the blonde back towards her. When she’s by her side again, Blake slides forward on the bed until her head is level with Yang’s lap, and immediately Yang beams in understanding. 

She settles against the blonde’s lap, humming contently as she lifts her book to her face; at the same time, her ears twitch invitingly, and Yang doesn’t need to be told anything more. She brings her hands to Blake’s scalp, her nails lightly tracing lines up and down, her circuit occasionally broken by sideways scratches, circle motions with her thumbs, and scratches at the base of her ears that prompt a pleasant shiver from Blake.

Blake clears her throat as she finds an appropriate spot to begin reading to Yang as the blonde continues to happily stroke her hair.


End file.
